Durant back, and the Thunder cruise past Memphis, 112-94

Are you ready for the big takeaway?

Really ready?

Because it’s a good one.

Kevin Durant played.

But here’s the twist: In the first half, Durant shot just 2-10 from the floor and against the stingy Grizzlies, the Thunder still led by 20, 56-36, at the break. I don’t think that happens in previous seasons.

Second half, as Durant tends to do, he got in rhythm and saw a couple shots go down. He finished with 26 on 9-18 shooting, which featured 16 on 7-8 in the second half, plus 17 rebounds and three assists.

The Thunder pretty much coasted the whole way through this one, aided by Mike Conley’s absence for Memphis. Russell Westbrook did the heavy lifting in the first half and finished with 20-7-7, but there was an encouraging balance with Dion Waiters scoring 15 on nine shots, Anthony Morrow scoring 14 on four, and Enes Kanter added seven and eight.

Seriously, this was one of those games you just throw a checkmark by and move on with your life. There’s nothing all that profound. The Grizzlies looked abysmally bad, the Thunder looked exponentially better with Durant back, and that was pretty much that. If you really want me to dig for something, I guess you could say the rebounding was real good? Westbrook was unguardable? Mitch McGary played?

It’s back to Los Angeles to play the Lakers again, and obviously being back on track and having Durant back, the Thunder can sort of recalibrate and start taking on this soft schedule. This is their chance to pick up a pile of wins. Let’s see how consistent they can be.

NOTES:

Fun moment: Westbrook euro-stepped the Grizzlies into another universe in the second quarter, then replayed it for himself a couple times back up the floor. Durant liked it so much, he started doing it too. Good times.

Again, just a 2-10 shooting first half for Durant. And no, it wasn’t Tony Allen hounding him into it. Durant mostly missed good looks, possibly out of rhythm after missing a game. Durant started making those shots in the third, hitting 5-5.

Everyone talks about staggering Westbrook and Durant, but one move Donovan has made in recent weeks is playing Ibaka with the second unit. That’s a subtlety smart adjustment to help the unit’s defensive issue, while also giving Payne and Waiters another option in the pick-and-roll.

Here’s my question: I understand not wanting to change your starting lineup, but if you’re going to have Andre Roberson guard Tony Allen, then why not? Now, the Thunder were doing a lot of switching 1-through-4, but seeing as Allen is not really much of a handler or screener, Roberson did a lot of standing around on Allen.

Billy Donovan talked pregame about Dion Waiters: “His focus has gotta change. And what I mean by that is, he’s a guy that’s a really, really good creator. He can manufacture his own shot. And he’s a really good defender, one of our on-ball defenders. The thing I don’t want him to do, when I say change his mindset, is go from the fact that he’s not shot the ball well and lose sight of the other three or four things he can do to impact our team. I think for him, because he’s worked hard, put in the extra time, you want to see results when you do that. But he can’t get consumed with that and lose focus on the other things that he can do to help our team. If he’s taking good shots and getting into the paint and the ball’s not going in the basket, he can’t get consumed with that.”

Possibly not coincidentally, Waiters played his best overall game in weeks.

Donovan postgame on Waiters: “He’s got to shift his focus to the things he knows he has control over. He has control over making the extra pass. He has control over defending. He has control over getting into the paint. What he may not have control over is the ball going into the basket. And when you don’t have control over something, the more you think about something and you try to will it. Then it becomes more challenging.”

Seriously though, Mario Chalmers still played an awesome game against the Thunder — 23 points, eight rebounds and nine assists. Never fails.

Small thing, but Durant’s extra to Morrow was such a pleasant thing to watch. Durant is taking a lot of pride in leading by example with the sharing, and the more he does these type of little things, the more everyone buys in behind him.

Dave Joerger made an interesting point pregame about what playing against a struggling offensive team can do for your own offense. Basically, he said, when you’re not worried all that much about your opponent consistently scoring on you, it means you play with more freedom and confidence with your own offense. Makes sense. And it extends to being a good defensive team, too. Like the Warriors. They feel the freedom and confidence to take some pretty wild shots, because they know there’s a pretty good chance they’ll just get a stop on the other end.

I feel like I’ve talked to Dave Joerger more in the past year than I have my dad.

Not the most effective game from Cameron Payne, though he did hit two 3s in the first half. It does feel like he might be hunting his shot just a tad too much, but it’s all part of him feeling things out.

It really looks like the Grizzlies have no idea what they’re doing right now.

As of now, the Thunder would match up with Memphis in the first round. That appears to be a favorable matchup.

Westbrook’s outfit was something else, and that’s saying something for him. Durant called him a “conquistador.” Waiters looked up at him, laughed and said, “Got some shit on tonight, huh?” Westbrook, to his credit, takes it all in and joins in on the clowning. As he left the locker room, he yelled out, “I got a horse outside!”

Next up: At the Lakers on Friday